Mississippi Today
Rankin County undersheriff resigns

Rankin County Undersheriff Paul Holley resigned Monday as a string of controversies encircles his department.
The former undersheriff worked for the department for nearly eight years, serving as the department’s legal counsel and as Sheriff Bryan Bailey’s right-hand man.
“During my 4 months as Undersheriff, I have implemented a number of changes that I believed were the best way to help the Sheriff’s Office improve its credibility,” Holley wrote in a Tuesday press release. “I continue to remain an unabashed supporter of Rankin County law enforcement.”
The former undersheriff did not explain why he was resigning and declined to comment when reached by phone.
Department spokesperson Jason Dare confirmed Holley’s resignation but declined to comment further.
Holley’s departure is the latest in a series of upsets at the department after several Rankin County deputies were accused of torturing two Black men and an investigation by Mississippi Today and The New York Times found evidence that Sheriff Bryan Bailey may have illegally obtained phone records for his girlfriend and a Mississippi state representative.
In August, five members of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department and one Richland police officer pleaded guilty to torturing Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker and attempting to cover up their crimes.

The deputies—Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Daniel Opdyke, Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmond and Richland Officer Joshua Hartfield—conducted a late-night raid of Parker’s home in January, according to a criminal information filed by the Justice Department.
Holley was not implicated in the investigation.
The deputies beat the men, used tasers to shock them repeatedly and sexually assaulted them with a sex toy, court documents show.
Elward then shoved his pistol into Jenkins’ mouth and pulled the trigger, shattering the young man’s jaw and shredding his neck. He barely survived.
According to the criminal information, the deputies then attempted to hide their crimes by disposing of the shell casing and gun used to shoot Jenkins and throwing Jenkins and Parkers’ clothes into the woods behind Parker’s home.
They concocted a false story claiming Jenkins had pulled a BB gun on the deputies, forcing Elward to shoot. The deputies planted drugs on the pair and attempted to coerce Parker into going along with their invented narrative.
The deputies were part of a group of officers who called themselves the Goon Squad because of their willingness to use violence against criminal suspects, according to the Justice Department’s investigation.
The indicted officers are still awaiting sentencing on state and federal charges.
Sheriff Bryan Bailey has denied any knowledge of the Goon Squad’s activities.
“All of the former deputies lied to me,” Bailey said at a press conference in August. “We have cooperated fully with all outside investigating agencies to uncover the truth and bring justice to the victims.”
Bailey told reporters he planned to consult with outside agencies and the FBI in order to improve accountability and transparency at his department.
Litigation from the case is expected to cost the county’s taxpayers millions of dollars, according to legal experts.
Bailey fell under further scrutiny after Mississippi Today and The New York Times discovered evidence that the sheriff used at least eight grand jury subpoenas to obtain phone records for his girlfriend, her ex-husband and another local man in 2014.
Bailey allegedly began requesting grand jury subpoenas to obtain Kristi Pennington Shanks’ phone records after beginning a romantic relationship with her while she was married to Mississippi State Rep. Fred Shanks, R-Brandon.
A 2016 investigative report filed by then-Rankin County District Attorney Michael Guest found the subpoenas did not appear related to any criminal investigation by the sheriff. Guest submitted his investigation to the attorney general at the time, Jim Hood, but his office did not pursue the matter further.
Hood told Mississippi Today in a statement that he did not remember all the details of how the case was handled, but he insisted that his office had investigated and made the right call to not prosecute.
If there was a legitimate criminal case, legal experts said, the sheriff should not have been involved in the case.
“There was an obvious and profound conflict of interest here,” said Matthew Steffey, an attorney and a professor at the Mississippi College School of Law.
“If there was a legitimate criminal investigation, the sheriff should not have been subpoenaing his own girlfriend’s phone records. And he certainly cannot do it without the knowledge or the direction of the district attorney’s office.”
Bailey did not respond to requests for comment about the allegations. The sheriff is running unopposed this year in his third reelection bid.
Holley was not implicated in the investigation into Bailey’s subpoenas.
In his resignation letter, Holley urged the community to “be patient with the men and women that wear the badge as they continue to serve all the citizens of Rankin County.”
Nate Rosenfield and Brian Howey are Immersion Fellows with the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, part of Mississippi Today.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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Mississippi Today
Mississippi River flooding Vicksburg, expected to crest on Monday
Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said Friday floodwaters from the Mississippi River, which have reached homes in and around Vicksburg, will likely persist until early May. Elfer estimated there areabout 15 to 20 roads underwater in the area.
“We’re about half a foot (on the river gauge) from a major flood,” he said. “But we don’t think it’s going to be like in 2011, so we can kind of manage this.”
The National Weather projects the river to crest at 49.5 feet on Monday, making it the highest peak at the Vicksburg gauge since 2020. Elfer said some residents in north Vicksburg — including at the Ford Subdivision as well as near Chickasaw Road and Hutson Street — are having to take boats to get home, adding that those who live on the unprotected side of the levee are generally prepared for flooding.



“There are a few (inundated homes), but we’ve mitigated a lot of them,” he said. “Some of the structures have been torn down or raised. There are a few people that still live on the wet side of the levee, but they kind of know what to expect. So we’re not too concerned with that.”
The river first reached flood stage in the city — 43 feet — on April 14. State officials closed Highway 465, which connects the Eagle Lake community just north of Vicksburg to Highway 61, last Friday.

Elfer said the areas impacted are mostly residential and he didn’t believe any businesses have been affected, emphasizing that downtown Vicksburg is still safe for visitors. He said Warren County has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to secure pumps and barriers.
“Everybody thus far has been very cooperative,” he said. “We continue to tell people stay out of the flood areas, don’t drive around barricades and don’t drive around road close signs. Not only is it illegal, it’s dangerous.”
NWS projects the river to stay at flood stage in Vicksburg until May 6. The river reached its record crest of 57.1 feet in 2011.




This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Mississippi Today
With domestic violence law, victims ‘will be a number with a purpose,’ mother says
Joslin Napier. Carlos Collins. Bailey Mae Reed.
They are among Mississippi domestic violence homicide victims whose family members carried their photos as the governor signed a bill that will establish a board to study such deaths and how to prevent them.
Tara Gandy, who lost her daughter Napier in Waynesboro in 2022, said it’s a moment she plans to tell her 5-year-old grandson about when he is old enough. Napier’s presence, in spirit, at the bill signing can be another way for her grandson to feel proud of his mother.
“(The board) will allow for my daughter and those who have already lost their lives to domestic violence … to no longer be just a number,” Gandy said. “They will be a number with a purpose.”
Family members at the April 15 private bill signing included Ashla Hudson, whose son Collins, died last year in Jackson. Grandparents Mary and Charles Reed and brother Colby Kernell attended the event in honor of Bailey Mae Reed, who died in Oxford in 2023.
Joining them were staff and board members from the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the statewide group that supports shelters and advocated for the passage of Senate Bill 2886 to form a Domestic Violence Facility Review Board.
The law will go into effect July 1, and the coalition hopes to partner with elected officials who will make recommendations for members to serve on the board. The coalition wants to see appointees who have frontline experience with domestic violence survivors, said Luis Montgomery, public policy specialist for the coalition.
A spokesperson from Gov. Tate Reeves’ office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Establishment of the board would make Mississippi the 45th state to review domestic violence fatalities.
Montgomery has worked on passing a review board bill since December 2023. After an unsuccessful effort in 2024, the coalition worked to build support and educate people about the need for such a board.
In the recent legislative session, there were House and Senate versions of the bill that unanimously passed their respective chambers. Authors of the bills are from both political parties.
The review board is tasked with reviewing a variety of documents to learn about the lead up and circumstances in which people died in domestic violence-related fatalities, near fatalities and suicides – records that can include police records, court documents, medical records and more.
From each review, trends will emerge and that information can be used for the board to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to prevent domestic violence deaths.
“This is coming at a really great time because we can really get proactive,” Montgomery said.
Without a board and data collection, advocates say it is difficult to know how many people have died or been injured in domestic-violence related incidents.
A Mississippi Today analysis found at least 300 people, including victims, abusers and collateral victims, died from domestic violence between 2020 and 2024. That analysis came from reviewing local news stories, the Gun Violence Archive, the National Gun Violence Memorial, law enforcement reports and court documents.
Some recent cases the board could review are the deaths of Collins, Napier and Reed.
In court records, prosecutors wrote that Napier, 24, faced increased violence after ending a relationship with Chance Fabian Jones. She took action, including purchasing a firearm and filing for a protective order against Jones.
Jones’s trial is set for May 12 in Wayne County. His indictment for capital murder came on the first anniversary of her death, according to court records.
Collins, 25, worked as a nurse and was from Yazoo City. His ex-boyfriend Marcus Johnson has been indicted for capital murder and shooting into Collins’ apartment. Family members say Collins had filed several restraining orders against Johnson.
Johnson was denied bond and remains in jail. His trial is scheduled for July 28 in Hinds County.
He was a Jackson police officer for eight months in 2013. Johnson was separated from the department pending disciplinary action leading up to immediate termination, but he resigned before he was fired, Jackson police confirmed to local media.
Reed, 21, was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Water Valley to live with her grandparents and help care for her cousin, according to her obituary.
Kylan Jacques Phillips was charged with first degree murder for beating Reed, according to court records. In February, the court ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to court documents.
At the bill signing, Gandy said it was bittersweet and an honor to meet the families of other domestic violence homicide victims.
“We were there knowing we are not alone, we can travel this road together and hopefully find ways to prevent and bring more awareness about domestic violence,” she said.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Mississippi Today
Court to rule on DeSoto County Senate districts with special elections looming
A federal three-judge panel will rule in coming days on how political power in northwest Mississippi will be allocated in the state Senate and whether any incumbents in the DeSoto County area might have to campaign against each other in November special elections.
The panel, comprised of all George W. Bush-appointed judges, ordered state officials last week to, again, craft a new Senate map for the area in the suburbs of Memphis. The panel has held that none of the state’s prior maps gave Black voters a realistic chance to elect candidates of their choice.
The latest map proposed by the all-Republican State Board of Election Commissioners tweaked only four Senate districts in northwest Mississippi and does not pit any incumbent senators against each other.
The state’s proposal would keep the Senate districts currently held by Sen. Michael McLendon, a Republican from Hernando and Sen. Kevin Blackwell, a Republican from Southaven, in majority-white districts.
But it makes Sen. David Parker’s district a slightly majority-Black district. Parker, a white Republican from Olive Branch, would run in a district with a 50.1% black voting-age population, according to court documents.
The proposal also maintains the district held by Sen. Reginald Jackson, a Democrat from Marks, as a majority-Black district, although it reduces the Black voting age population from 61% to 53%.
Gov. Tate Reeves, Secretary of State Michael Watson, and Attorney General Lynn Fitch comprise the State Board of Election Commissioners. Reeves and Watson voted to approve the plan. But Watson, according to meeting documents, expressed a wish that the state had more time to consider different proposals.
Fitch did not attend the meeting, but Deputy Attorney General Whitney Lipscomb attended in her place. Lipscomb voted against the map, although it is unclear why. Fitch’s office declined to comment on why she voted against the map because it involves pending litigation.
The reason for redrawing the districts is that the state chapter of the NAACP and Black voters in the state sued Mississippi officials for drawing legislative districts in a way that dilutes Black voting power.
The plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU, are likely to object to the state’s newest proposal, and they have until April 29 to file an objection with the court
The plaintiffs have put forward two alternative proposals for the area in the event the judges rule against the state’s plans.
The first option would place McLendon and Blackwell in the same district, and the other would place McLendon and Jackson in the same district.
It is unclear when the panel of judges will issue a ruling on the state’s plan, but they will not issue a ruling until the plaintiffs file their remaining court documents next week.
While the November election is roughly six months away, changing legislative districts across counties and precincts is technical work, and local election officials need time to prepare for the races.
The judges have not yet ruled on the full elections calendar, but U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick said at a hearing earlier this month that the panel was committed have the elections in November.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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